New community friend

Contents

College Principal ............................ 1 New community friend .................... 2 Career Women’s Network............... 4

Gioia House ................................... 6

Unforgettable experiences.............. 8 Gala concert................................. 10

Drama showcase.......................... 12 Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award....................... 13

Senior student leaders ................. 14

Service and Community ............... 16 Exemplary Dominican................... 18 Mission......................................... 20 Sporting showcase ....................... 22 A new appointment for Primary..... 26 Digging in at Del Monte..................................... 27

Harmony Day ............................... 28 The awesome IB PYP................... 30

Mary Bailey House ....................... 32 Primary Years Library.....................34 P&F Association ........................... 36

Around the Plot ............................ 38 Back Cover: 2022 Calendar Dates

ENCOMPASS 2021

EDITOR Victoria Harper DESIGNER Claudia De Giorgi COVER IMAGE College Principal Paulina Skerman with Casper CONTRIBUTORS George Ayoub • Stella Azizian • Jackie Baxter • Marisa Black • Karen Campbell • Belinda Civitarese • Timothy Chung • Nicole Ellis-Windsor • Yvette Graniero • Victoria Harper • Christina Higgins • Simon Mariner • Sharon Sirris • Paulina Skerman • Jane Sulis •Melanie van der Meer • Christopher Walker • Brian Walker

Encompass is published by Santa Sabina College. 90 The Boulevarde Strathfield 2135. The entire content is the exclusive copyright of Santa Sabina College, PHONE 9745 7000 WEBSITE ssc.nsw.edu.au

Coming together as a community again

The year 2021 started off well and we all thought we had turned a corner and that our COVID woes were behind us. Assemblies were back on, school functions were in full swing, parents were able to come back to the school grounds, sport had returned and camps at Tallong were up and running. We even launched our very first Career Women’s Network breakfast, thrilled that alumna Dr Cathy Foley AO, Australia’s Chief Scientist, was able to present the keynote address. And, we hosted the Gala Concert at the Sydney Town Hall. This was my first Gala experience and I sat in awe of the majesty before me; children making music as good as any world class performers.

We made it through to Easter before COVID once again turned our world upside down. As quickly as you could say jiminy cricket we had to move to remote, online learning. Again, this happened seamlessly and our teachers did the extraordinary, keeping our young people engaged in their learning in this remote environment. This dragged on throughout Term 3 and it was a particularly stressful time for our Year 12 students who were constantly challenged with shifting dates and deadlines. Would the HSC proceed? If so, when? It was tough going but we made it through to the other side. As I write this Sydney is reopening and in the next few weeks the HSC and IB exams will happen. Leaving my Ugg boots behind and stepping back into my stilettos has been a welcome relief as we return to living life to the full again! There is a renewed hope in the air and a heady feeling of excitement as we welcome our students back to our gorgeous grounds.

There is no doubt that we all experienced some form of loss during our time in isolation. Whether we missed celebrating birthdays with friends and family or weddings or being able to say goodbye to a loved one when they passed away, or missing that last day of school milestone with our friends, it’s likely that we all felt pain somewhere. Returning to school, we all know how important it is to acknowledge the losses that our students and colleagues experienced. Coming together as a community again offers us the best possible way to recover.

We will also cheer for the fact that we got through it! We made it to the other side and many of us learnt about hidden strengths within ourselves along the way. The COVID lockdown likely presented many of us with opportunities we may never have again, like saving an hour a day in travel time before and after work to go for a walk, or giving us time to linger a little longer over a morning coffee with a loved one. Perhaps it was creating gourmet meals you didn’t know you could prepare or growing a fabulous garden with produce to feed the whole family.

For me, the silver lining was the time I could give to welcoming a puppy into my home and preparing him to join our school community as our wellbeing dog. The profound psychological effects of having a pet are well reported. They make us feel calmer, less anxious and more loved. And, it is well documented that blood pressure drops immediately on petting a dog! For children the benefits are improved emotional, cognitive, behavioural, educational and social development. So Casper has joined our school family. He stood with me at the gates to welcome our youngest back to school after lockdown. Their joy and excitement at seeing him and cuddling him was magical and on his first day at work he did his job well, reducing anxiety levels and sharing the love.

The pandemic has certainly turned us upside down and inside out but it has also given us hope that when bad things happen we know that we can get through them and along the way, we adapt to not only survive, but thrive.

PAULINA SKERMAN

College Principal

Casper

The friendly dog

Above: Casper, the College wellbeing dog, is a Labradoodle, a breed known to be in tune with human emotions. He is also hypoallergenic which is an important consideration for those who suffer allergies.

The arrival of puppies and kittens in homes has been one of the defining features of 2021. They seem to be one of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic. While people work from home under Sydney’s protracted Stay-at-home orders, their pets have loved the all day company.

At Santa Sabina it works the other way too – the College has a new puppy, Casper, who comes in to work with the College Principal to lighten everyone’s day and bring us joy. Casper joined our school community as a wellbeing dog. He spends his days in the office of the College Principal, Paulina Skerman, and his nights at her home.

‘We chose Casper for his temperament which is friendly, good-natured and intelligent’, Ms Skerman said.

Research points to school dogs enhancing student and staff wellbeing. Studies suggest that dogs are able to act as a stress management intervention and they are known to boost student attendance and confidence levels as well as motivation to participate in learning activities.

‘Casper visits classes with me and we spend lunch breaks out with the students at Primary, Gioia and Santa. The children have been taught about how to approach him and they know to be gentle and calm with him,’ Ms Skerman said. Casper is not the first school dog to be part of the Santa community. He follows Cindy and Storm who were part of our school community for 30 years as residential companions of Patrick the groundsman.

In addition, the dog is an important symbol in the Dominican tradition. Legend has it that Jane, St Dominic’s mother, dreamt that a dog would set the world on fire lighting it up with the flame of truth. The real meaning is associated with the Latin, Domini – canes which is translated as ‘hounds of the Lord’. Dominicans were to be the truth bearers, the theologians of the church.